Melora Pazlar
Melora Pazlar was an Elaysian, and had one brother. When she was a child she dreamed of exploring the universe. Although Elaysian is a low-gravity world, and only a handful of Elyasians ever left their homeworld, this did not stop her from fulfilling her dream. Melora was the first Elaysian to enter Starfleet. During her studies she kept people at arm's length. She thought that other people might find her a problem, because of her low-gravity origin. (Low-gravity species need special equipment, such as an anti-grav unit, to be able to move in an Earth-like gravity.) She spoke fluent Klingonese and liked Vulcan music such as etudes by Delvok. Melora graduated from Starfleet Academy as a stellar cartographer. In 2370, she was assigned to Deep Space 9, her first deep-space assignment, to survey a sector in the Gamma Quadrant. Upon starting her mission, she asked to do the survey on her own because she believed that she could work better and faster then when someone was with her. When Commander Benjamin Sisko refused, she thought it had something to do with her low-gravity origin and made clear that Starfleet policy did not allow someone to go alone on a mission. Her stubbornness brought her into problems when she fell while trying to enter a cargo bay on her own and her external skeleton was not powerful enough to help her back on her feet. Fortunately Lieutenant Jadzia Dax found her and brought her to sickbay where Doctor Bashir could examine her. Doctor Bashir admired her and knew her Starfleet record by heart. When he visited Melora in her quarters, which was adapted with an adjustable gravity, he noticed the same defensive behavior she used during her academy years. Fortunately Julian convinced her that everyone aboard a starship or space station depends on each other and being helped was not something to be ashamed of. Melora and Julian Bashir had a romantic affair which raised some questions with her because of the difference in species and also because one does not know where the next Starfleet posting will be. Long distance relationship are known to be extremely difficult. During this relationship Julian researched the work of Nathaniel Terros on neuromuscular adaptation, which makes it possible for a low-gravity species to move in an Earth-like gravity by elevating the motor cortex neural output of the persons brain. Once finished, however, this treatment is irreversible. On the second charting mission, Melora had doubts about the treatment and wondered if it was worth losing all the things she had, including not being able to return to her homeworld for anything more than short visits. When she and Jadzia Dax returned with the ''Orinoco'' from their mission, they where taken hostage by Fallit Kot. When Commander Sisko prevented their departure by means of a tractor beam, Fallit Kot shot Melora to persuade Sisko to release them. During the pursuit of the Orinoco by the ''Rio Grande'' Jadzia Dax noticed that Melora was still alive and was trying to reach the gravity control panel where she was able to turn off the artificial gravity. This gave Jadzia a change to stop the Orinoco while Melora, because of her experience with near zero gravity, was able to disarm Fallit Kot. It seems that the treatment Melora was undergoing protected her from the effects of the phaser. Ultimately Melora decided to stop with the treatment because she found that she would not be an Elyasian anymore and she somehow liked to be dependent. Julian told her that the treatment could be started again if she wanted to. (DS9:"Melora") :It is not known if the relationship with Julian ended here or sometime after her mission, but we do know he eventually hooked up with Leeta, who dumped him before nearly wandering off with Lewis Zimmerman and instead opting to marry Rom. :''In the first book of Star Trek: Titan, it establishes Melora Pazlar as a lieutenant and head of the USS Titan's Stellar Cartography lab. Pazlar, Melora Pazlar, Melora